By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
Eight senior dance students will spotlight their skills in a performance that's a coda to their careers at West Texas A&M University.
In Falling into Dance, which opens Thursday, the seniors will be responsible for both solo and ensemble numbers that will display a range of inspiration and styles, dance director Leslie Williams said.
The dance concert will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Happy State Bank Studio Theatre. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students, or free for WT students, faculty and staff. Call 806-651-2804.
"It's a big show," Williams said.
Among the highlights to watch for:
- Bailee Burch's solo number about "her struggles with dealing with being a woman ... how it's a battle we just keep fighting over and over, walking in a circle and making tiny little steps forward and, all of the sudden, something knocks us down and we have to start over again," Williams said.
- Crystal Torres' work, which combines both her solo and ensemble work in a ballroom number about superheroes and "how we can all be heroes, whether we're in a costume or not," Williams said.
- Eric Prospero's solo, a "gorgeous" piece, Williams said.
- And Burch's ensemble piece, which was inspired by her mission work in Kenya and deals with "finding your relationship with your god — not necessarily a capital-G 'God' but whatever you believe in," Williams said.
Weighty issues are balanced by works that are more strictly entertaining, Williams said. But dance, she said, is particularly well-suited to tackle heavy subjects.
"We're guiding them into finding their own voices in these times that are a changing," Williams said. "We tell them don't make the audience your therapist, but you can use dance as your therapy. There are many things they are presenting that are thing they're struggling with in their young lives, but they're able to present them in a broader sense so the audience can take whatever they get out of it."
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
